Mentors harness record nostalgia

VINYL COUNTDOWN: Organiser Simon Merry sorts through stock during the Great Vinyl Sale in the Stoke Memorial Hall

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Teenagers through to retirees were on the hunt for vinyl over the weekend, attending a sale to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

The Rotary Club of Nelson organised the event where it had about 6000 records to sell. The Great Vinyl Sale was at the Stoke Memorial Hall.

Voluntary organiser Simon Merry said the event was well attended with plenty of donations.

"Once word got out we were doing it, we had records coming in left, right and centre."

They also had a large donation of about 2000 records from a deceased person's estate. He said there were albums "right across the board" from pop to country to classical. The albums were set out in banana boxes for the vinyl hunters to rummage through.

"When we started, we had a queue out the door into the car park."

He estimated there were about 400 music-lovers who went to the sale through the weekend.

"There were people coming in looking for memories of days gone by, there were families with children and teenagers looking for some cool vinyl."

He did not think there was anyone who went to the event who would have left empty-handed.

The club made about $2500 for the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programme.